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US 11,439,567 B2Granted
Wearable thermoelectric array as a graphical user interface
AssigneeThe Aerospace Corporation
InventorSiegfried W. Janson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A thermal display module configured to create a thermal pattern discerned by a visually impaired user to determine his or her surroundings. The thermal display module includes a plurality of thermoelectric modules, each of which are configured to cool or heat a pixel plate in close proximity to a user's skin. The cooling or heating of each of the thermoelectric modules create the thermal pattern discernable by the user.
Claims18
An apparatus, comprising:
- a thermal display module configured to create a thermal pattern discerned by a user, wherein
- the thermal display module comprises a plurality of thermoelectric modules, each of which are configured to cool or heat a pixel plate in close proximity to a user's skin, and
- wherein the cooling or heating of each of the thermoelectric modules create the thermal pattern discernable by the user;
- and
- a cooling fan configured to receive release heat from each of the thermoelectric modules and cool the thermally conductive substrate.
2 more elements
An apparatus, comprising:
- a thermal conductive substrate configured to create a thermal pattern discerned by a user,
- wherein the thermal conductive substrate comprising an array of individually-control thermal modules (“modules”),
- each of the modules within the array comprises a thermal pixel element, and
- the thermal pixel element is heated or cooled depending on current flow to create a two-dimensional thermal pattern discernable by the user;
- and
- a cooling fan configured to receive released heat from each of the modules and cool the thermally conductive substrate.
3 more elements
A thermal conductive substrate configured to create a thermal pattern, comprising:
- an array of individually-controlled thermal modules (“modules”), each of which comprise a plurality of thermoelectric elements sandwiched between a pixel plate and an insulator heat sink plate, wherein
- each of the plurality of thermoelectric elements are configured to be heated or cooled depending on current flow to create a two-dimensional thermal pattern discernable by a user;
- and
- a cooling fan configured to receive released heat from each of the modules and cool the thermally conductive substrate.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.